India ex-air force chief faces Italian chopper probe

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Indian police said on Monday they would probe a former Indian air force chief and 10 others over a US$748 million (S$927 million) contract for 12 Italian helicopters amid charges that the deal was won through kickbacks.

A senior police official said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a "preliminary enquiry" report which also links four companies to the alleged scandal.

Former air chief marshal "S.P. Tyagi and his cousins were names mentioned in the report", the official said, without elaborating.

"If criminality is established, then the next step would be to register a case against the 11 and the four companies," the police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.